Guest columnist: Some day, we'll rediscover freedom

I’m sure the 57th presidential inauguration Monday will be a great day for at least half the nation. For me it will be the final nail in the coffin, hammering home a new reality I can no longer deny — America is not the nation I once believed it to be.

The re-election of Barack Obama was an in-your-face move away from the core values I once thought we all shared — a tectonic shift that is reaffirmed with every executive order that tosses the constitution onto the trash heap.

Values like American exceptionalism, rugged individualism, personal responsibility, fiscal restraint, self-reliance, the right to bear arms and the freedom to hold certain Christian beliefs are no longer a shining beacon on a hill but rather a faint flicker in the ever growing shadow of big government.

Ironically, when this nation was born, these values, founded in liberty, were the new and radical ideas in human governance. America was considered to be the great experiment.

Today, this new “progressive” path we have chosen is, in reality, an old, well-worn path with deep historical ruts embedded in the timeline of so many failed nations.

We are now firmly planted on this path, where the empty promises of equal opportunity, a level playing field, punish the rich and handouts not worked for nor deserved, leads to the same place it has for a thousand years — decline and eventual irrelevancy.

Because of our choices today there will be a heavy financial price, not just for those who eagerly doubled down on the cancerous concept of entitlement, but also for our children and our children’s children.

How selfish have we become to willingly satchel future generations with a suffocating financial burden along with the now very slippery slope of lost freedoms and forgotten liberties?

Benjamin Franklin’s prophetic words, “a republic if you can keep it,” have finally come full circle.

But why now?

I believe for the first time in our history the majority of us have no idea what America has stood for for more than 236 years and — worse yet — we don’t care. Just so long as there is an ample supply of free food stamps, free health care and a free Obama-phone with 1,200 minutes. In short, we have become the antithesis of “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.”

So now that we have willingly jumped off the mountain that has made America the greatest nation on earth and we’re falling full speed toward the dark valley of “for each according to his ability to each according to his needs,” should we just crumple into the fetal position and wait for impact?

What did our parents and grandparents do when confronted by fascism that threatened to engulf the world in dark clouds of oppression?

They refused to give up.

If there is one truth that courses through the veins of every human being on this planet, it is the inalienable desire to be free — the ability to choose one’s own path in life rather than having it dictated.

It is why a small group of men in Philadelphia knowingly signed their lives away in a declaration against tyranny. It is what moves a woman in a far- off country to dip her finger into a jar of purple ink under the threat of death for the entire world to witness. It is what has led men and women for centuries past to willingly charge a hill, stand a post and sacrifice their life for what they believe to be more valuable — freedom.

If we are to find our way back we must come to our senses and remember that government is not the answer. The very definition of government is to limit personal freedoms — to exercise direction and control over its citizens.

We must also fan the flame of freedom that burns in the heart of every person — Democrat, Republican, conservative, liberal, rich or poor because we all yearn for the same thing, whether we realize it or not.

I just pray John Adams was wrong when he said, “ ... a Constitution of government once changed from freedom, can never be restored. Liberty, once lost, is lost forever.”

Freedom is the one card we hold that the other side does not. It is the card that trumps all other cards. And this gives me hope. Because at some point when the conventions of the liberal elite become so oppressive and we realize they do not know what is best, we will once again rediscover what our forefathers knew all along — that man is not the arbiter of freedom. Freedom is a right, a gift, to all men endowed by God Almighty.

Ernie Cox lives in Amarillo and is a teacher at Mesa Verde Elementary School.

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Obama being of “American African” descent has nothing to do with the way our country has been heading since 1958 when Steven Engel led the fight to have prayer stopped in New York public schools. On June 25, 1962, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Engel’s favor.

Then in 1963, the United States Supreme Court ruled in favor of well-known atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair in having “Bible Readings” banned in public schools.

I for one appreciate educators like Ernie Cox and all of the other citizens that do not play a role in the education process as they actually see the “Big Picture” of the path our country is on.

The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with hunting nor is it about protecting oneself although that is a fundamental right given to us by our Creator. The 2nd amendment is about protecting ourselves from tyranny. When our founding fathers wrote it they knew someday we would have to protect ourselves, our rights for which many countrymen of ours shed their blood and many died. For any President or any Congress to disregard our Rights GUARANTEED by our Constitution is an act of INSURRECTION and TREASON! We have a duty to stand up against tyranny and if need be with ARMS. If the President tries to disarm us the Vice President must remove the President and charge him with insurrection and treason. If the Vice President does not do this according to the 25th amendment thenit is up to Congress to remove him with charges of insurrection and treason. If Congress does not act then the Supreme court according to the 25th amendment is to remove them and charge them with insurrection and treason. If the Supreme court does not do this the the United States military is to remove them all and charge them with insurrection and treason. Need I go on in this intelligent conversation? I am a true Patriot who offered my services to this country back in 68. I love my country and will not have our Constitution and the lives of our soldiers stepped on simply because some think our Constitution is outdated. I do not forget. I do not forgive.

The President and Vice President will be taking the Oath today to protect and uphold the Constitution of The United States. Are those just words they will say when they that they will protect and uphold the Constitution? They haven't a clue.

The only thing you people are lamenting is the loss of power by old white men. We have more freedoms today than we have ever had. The country is not in decline, it is the most powerful nation on earth. You are free to pray and practice whatever religion you want, however, you no longer have the right to demand that others practice your religion. You have the right to have as many guns as you desire, but you may not be able to have assault weapons. This isn't an attempt to disarm you, but merely a first step in trying to protect innocent children. You have the right to speak out, as we are doing today, without any fear of consequences. When it gets right down to it, you lament the fact that you can no longer feel that you are more powerful than black and brown people or women. They are now your equals. That is a good thing, not a decline in our nation.

My belief is that only a fool would not think it is a step in the right direction. Why do you need an assault weapon unless you need to kill a large number of people in a short period of time? The mass murders that we have seen have been committed with assault weapons. That is the easiest way to commit these types of crimes. No one needs an assault weapon for protection or hunting. So what freedom have you really lost? The freedom to commit mass murder. I'm glad we have taken that freedom from you.

Read again oh you of little understanding.
The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with hunting nor is it about protecting oneself although that is a fundamental right given to us by our Creator. The 2nd amendment is about protecting ourselves from tyranny. When our founding fathers wrote it they knew someday we would have to protect ourselves, our rights for which many countrymen of ours shed their blood and many died. For any President or any Congress to disregard our Rights GUARANTEED by our Constitution is an act of INSURRECTION and TREASON! We have a duty to stand up against tyranny and if need be with ARMS. If the President tries to disarm us the Vice President must remove the President and charge him with insurrection and treason. If the Vice President does not do this according to the 25th amendment thenit is up to Congress to remove him with charges of insurrection and treason. If Congress does not act then the Supreme court according to the 25th amendment is to remove them and charge them with insurrection and treason. If the Supreme court does not do this the the United States military is to remove them all and charge them with insurrection and treason. Need I go on in this intelligent conversation? I am a true Patriot who offered my services to this country back in 68. I love my country and will not have our Constitution and the lives of our soldiers stepped on simply because some think our Constitution is outdated. I do not forget. I do not forgive.

The screams of those who are convinced that somebody, somewhere is trying to take their guns away from them. Nobody, anywhere in any way has ever in all of this has ever even mentioned that they wanted to take anybody's guns. Even the assualt weapons if you already have one, which is pretty ridiculous unless you are a collector or licensed dealer. We regulate almost everything that can hurt people from food to airplanes. Sometimes reasonably sometimes unreasonably which normaly levels out for the common good.

The screams of those who are beating the drum that anybody who disagrees with liberal politics must disagree because we have a black president or must think that people of all races , genders, and persuasions should not be treated equally. It is possible to disagree with someone strongly without it having anything to do with their race, or religion. Thst's why they make icecream in thirty one flavors.

Have any of you been told you have to surrender a gun, you can't go to church when and where you want, you can or cannot do just about anything you choose to do that is not criminal or hurts someone else, vote for anybody you want to or not vote. If you want the right to force your own ideology on somebody else you never had that right and it's not likely you ever will.

Dividend:" Have any of you been told you have to surrender a gun, you can't go to church when and where you want, you can or cannot do just about anything you choose to do that is not criminal or hurts someone else, vote for anybody you want to or not vote."
vot
I own a gun, go to the church of my choice, vote for the the candidate of my choice and say almost whatever I want.

Almost ever article I've read today the race card has came into play some one calling the old white guys bigot man the race problem never was for me and has been over since the 60sfor everyone except the few who want to keep it alive for their own uses to get what they want there is no race problem if you don't make it one

This a typical letter from Republicans in the Texas Panhandle who thinks they have lost a tremendous amount of freedoms and liberties when in reality nothing could be farther form the truth. This is a different time and day when all people will have a say and not just a select few. Better get use to it since the state of Texas will be more blue than red in the not to distant future.